


scent laden

by netla



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-16
Updated: 2012-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-21 07:00:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/netla/pseuds/netla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hulk finds his own way to understand his teammates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	scent laden

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at the kink meme:
> 
> 5 times the Hulk thoroughly sniffed each of the Avengers to memorize their scents + 1 time the Hulk tracked (one of) them down by their scents.

Tony smells like slick things. Oil and sweat mixed on his brow. The brown of alcohol and the sweet stink of liquid oxygen on his hands. Hulk never looks when he wants to find Tony, even though Tony never still. 

Annoying voice is probably second useful tool in locating Tony.

Only time Hulk get mad is when Tony takes off his armour because he’s going to stupid parties with stupid people. Tony try to hide smell by putting on lemon and scents of famous rappers. When people in ugly suits and pearls start screaming and separating into blood-tanged pieces and Hulk comes out, Hulk can’t find Tony. _Hulk can’t find Tony_. 

Hulk smashes large muscled man into bar because he might be the one who hurt Tony, when Tony appears, flying over Hulk’s head. Hulk starts seeing things again. Tony just went to become proper Tony. He smells like fuel spilled over fruity drinks. Smashed bottles around bar provide alcohol smell. Tony was pretending, but Tony is always Tony underneath, so Hulk stop worrying and focuses on smashing.

\---

Black Widow smell like fear. Black Widow also smell like waterfalls one day, like market selling spices next day, and stupid flowers other day. Black Widow deliberately trying to frustrate Hulk by switching smells. Almost as annoying as Tony, but Tony only changes smells when stupid people make him. Black Widow have no excuses.

Hulk stalk round her warily now. When fighting, Hulk keeps distance. Does not want to scare Natasha when supposed to be scaring piddly little man in green cape. Puny Bruce explains that counterproductive. 

When Tower smashed by people who are not Hulk, Hulk find Natasha holding towel on body with one hand, decapitating lizard man with other. She stands there panting and Hulk lean down and sniffs. Natasha still stinks of terror and of blood on hands, but now also smell like cotton and paper. 

Satisfied, Hulk turn and smash puny lizard going for her legs. Next time Hulk out, Hulk plans to practice finding Natasha’s scents under her sugar sticky disguises. But when he jump in front of skin melting laser to protect Black Widow, Hulk surprised to find Hulk doesn’t need to. Even more surprised that stench of fear almost gone.

\---

Cupid doesn’t like Hulk. Cupid’s voice tiny and quiet but Hulk knows the spicy odour of anger. Clint always have that, simmering under musk of smoke and flesh. Hulk like Cupid. Not many people in world who get angry enough to glare at Hulk all the time. Possibly only contest Cupid has is Bruce.

Hulk not stupid. Clint blame Hulk for attacking Black Widow, back when Hulk didn’t know she was his friend. But Hulk likes fighting, and he likes fighting with Clint. That’s why he notices first when Clint is suddenly not fighting beside them.

Clint different to rest of Avengers. Clint only smells of sweat and meat, which make him difficult to track down in city of burning bodies. But Clint is only weak man Hulk know who not afraid to get angry at things that could smash him, so Hulk tracks that hot scent. 

After words, Clint only fights with arrows, and Clint spend most of the battle throwing them away. Hitting supervillains with awkwardly shaped plastic not very good at getting things smashed. But Hulk think Clint much better at fighting Hulk, so Hulk jumps on the man shaped like a potato and throws him hard into a wall, pummelling his fist against wet, lumpy flesh over and over. 

Clint coughs, stares, rubs his red throat. Hulk roars over the heat burning between his ears and turns back to make sure Cupid didn’t die when Hulk not looking. Clint not dead, Clint glaring, saying, ‘Anybody ever tell you you tend to overreact, buddy?’

Cupid only look confused when Hulk laugh and laugh.

\---

Thor has no smell and that makes Hulk angry. 

The other Avengers think he does. They complain of shit and leather and honey and banish Thor to the shower, but they are scents that sit on Thor, not sink into him. They not part of him. Hulk never finds Thor on the battlefield by his smell because Thor always becomes whatever around them. Hulk doesn’t think about it. Hulk doesn’t need to look after Thor. Hulk doesn’t want to look after Thor. If Thor wants to hide from Hulk and do all smashing by himself, Hulk doesn’t care.

Hulk ignores him for weeks, no scent meaning he’s not even real person. Sometimes Hulk punches him to make sure Thor really there. Until Hulk finds himself fighting back to back with Thor in a deep bunker underground. Bunker is stale and smells like dust and dying plants, but around Thor the scent is sharp, like the top of a mountain. Hulk lines up many metal spikes into wires of metal robots, and roars as Thor brings down thunder on them with a laugh. Robots collapse around them and Thor smell like getting shocked by a toaster next to a full sink of washing up. Smells like old electric bumper cars Bruce remember from being a tiny child. 

That when Hulk realize that Thor is sunshine and wet and clean, and sometimes Thor crashes those together so he is rain and batteries and clean. Thor only smell like air around him smell. 

Hulk still never find him on battlefield, but Hulk stops being mad at him about it. Thor is stupid, so Hulk know he can’t help it.

\---

Steve is always warm and fresh, like oven-hot bread and roasted meat. Steve always eating or fighting. Hulk not know if he have any other hobbies. Steve not talk much about what he does outside of kitchen and battle. Has very sad expressions most days. 

Hulk not good at sad. Sad too much like Bruce. Steve too much like Bruce, despite Steve also being good at smashing things for a little human man. Hulk tries to give Steve space to do own smashing when they fight. Hulk not want Steve to feel like Hulk belittling his masculinity by protecting him too much. But Steve like stupid Bruce in many ways, so Hulk make sure to check on him regularly in case he tries to smash more than he’s capable of smashing. 

Sometimes Hulk catches whiff of sour milk, feels it on back of tongue hitting somewhere deep inside. It smell familiar. Powerful. _Enzymes_ Bruce whispers from the same inside place, _you’re recognising shared MCH alleles. We were so close,_ I _was so close_. 

Hulk not good at sad.


End file.
